Fated One
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Fated one's are supposed to be something akin to myths. So what happens when Kisuke finally finds his in the form of an innocent human woman who has been grievously hurt? Will he manage to woo the woman of his dreams or will he be forced to give up and forget about what could have been. An Urahahra/OC story.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! And welcome to my new story! **

**The idea of this story was sparked by a soul-mate story that I read that was so dark. Not going to lie, I have no idea how to write a complicated character like Kisuke Urahara. But i'm going to give it a shot. **

**He will be a bit ooc and slightly weird and sometimes even dark-ish. But that's mostly due to his age and how long he's been searching for the OC. **

**So- read and let me know what you all think. Who knows, maybe I can write some more Kisuke stories if this goes well. And for the rest of you- feel free to check out my Bleach/Avenger's stories. Some of them are really good.**

**Later!**

* * *

The omiai that Tessai had carefully arranged for him had been bust. He thought in disappointment as he walked the busy streets in his black suit. He'd been so careful this time around not to make any mistakes when he had met the woman. And though she seemed very nice, there had been no connection or spark in him upon meeting her.

Heaving a sigh he wondered vaguely how long it had been since he had felt something for anyone of the opposite sex that even felt like a sliver of attraction? Ten years? Twenty?

To be perfectly honest he couldn't recall such things with perfect clarity anymore. He'd left the Soul Society back in eighteen twelve, right? So it _had_ been a while. Especially since the current year was two thousand and ten.

Humming to himself, he frowned as he tried to figure the years and such but was interrupted when he heard shouting ahead of him and something_ small_ slammed into him hard enough to elicit a squeak from whoever it was. His arms came up automatically- even before he realized that he'd been run into by a woman- causing him to grasp slender shoulders in his hands as he looked down at the strange woman in his grip.

Looking down curiously, he locked eyes with one of the most stunningly beautiful creature's he'd ever seen before. Besides Yorichi of course.

The woman was short enough to not even come up to his shoulders, the top of her head barely reaching his collarbone. She had some foreign blood in her. Just enough for her eyes to be an shockingly pretty turquoise color. Delicate features, that were hauntingly lovely. A petite and slender body with just enough curves to easily calculate her age to be somewhere in her late teens to early twenties.

She was looking up at him with wide frightened eyes.

Almost as if she were expecting him to hit her or something. He concluded right away that he didn't like that look. In fact he downright _hated_ it.

"Doushita? What happened? Are you alright?" He asked softly as he heard the same voices from before shouting- closing in on them both and lifted his head to see several young men with piercings and gaudy looking clothes running towards them and narrowed his eyes at them.

Yakuza? Or just plain thugs? It was hard to tell nowadays. There were just so many foul people that hung around the streets and alleys, looking for innocent victims to prey upon now that it absolutely boggled the mind.

Finally several of the men managed to catch up since neither he nor the woman had moved any in the past few minutes and the nearest one snarled at him as he reached out to grab the woman's arm and jumped when he felt his hand slapped away from her by Kisuke's hand.

"Don't touch her." Kisuke growled in warning as he shifted his hold on the frightened woman and drew her closer to him. His mind absently recognizing the spark of attraction that he had been looking for not long before she had run into him. And he _knew_\- without any shadow of a doubt that this woman was his.

He would have felt giddy at finding her, even in this peculiar fashion- if it wasn't for the fact that the jerks that had chased her had frightened her so damned much that the poor thing couldn't even seem to think straight enough to respond to him when he'd asked her if she was okay.

"The woman belongs to us," One of the thugs said before then saying in a threatening manner, "Hand her over and no one will get hurt."

Kisuke could feel the small tremors in the woman's body and curled his lips back from his teeth and snarled at them. Attempting to intimidate them into backing off before there was bloodshed.

Because the absolute last thing that he needed was to kill the fools in front of her and irreparably scar her for life. She wouldn't want anything to do with him then and that wouldn't be good for either of them since he planned to keep her for the rest of their lives.

"You will leave without her or else I will have to get violent." He growled at the men as he felt her press her face against his jacket in an effort to hide herself further. His fingers twitched in longing. Wanting to bury themselves in her long dark hair and pet the silken strands in an effort to comfort her.

But for now he would simply have to content himself with simply holding her close to his chest.

One of the thugs spat something at him and Kisuke felt his temper soar to new heights as one of the men tried yet again to take his woman from him. This time instead of slapping the hands away, he seized them in his hands and simply snapped the bones. Causing the man screamed in pain causing the woman to flinch sharply as two of the other men pulled weapons.

Kisuke quickly pushed the woman behind him and glared at the man, daring them to try and get near her. Weapons or not, he would_ kill_ them before he let them touch what was his. He shifted his body into a fighting stance, however before he could do anything Ichigo and Chad appeared and quickly took care of the men before he could so much as even move an inch.

Once the group had been disarmed and laid out, the two young men turned to him and blinked. First in response to Kisuke's new outfit, and his appearance. And second in response to his woman peeking put from behind him.

"Urahara?"

"Yes."

"W-What's with the weird new look?" Ichigo asked curiously while Chad just stood there silently like a giant shadow.

"I had some business that required a neater appearance. Why? Does it look bad or something?" He wondered aloud.

"No. It's just that we're used to seeing you all scruffy and messy looking." The eighteen year old said before then shifting his attention to the woman and looking her over for a moment.

"Mizuki, are you okay? Those jerks didn't hurt you or anything right?"

Kisuke held himself perfectly still as Ichigo's question slithered through his mind and he began to wonder how the two could know each other. Were they friends? Former schoolmate? Something else?

He didn't like the prospect of possibly fighting over her with the young substitute Shinigami. Especially after all that he had done as a Soul Reaper. But at the same time, he wouldn't be able to let her go now that he'd found her either.

He wasn't a hundred percent sure that he could defeat Ichigo with cunning and brute strength alone. The young man was one of the most powerful beings in the known world already. A fight between them could very well level Karakura and possibly kill everyone as well before the kid took his head off.

So if something like that could be avoided- that would be nice.

"I-I'm fine Ichigo," The woman finally said. Her voice was soft and gentle. And Kisuke found himself wanting to hear more of it as Ichigo walked over and held his hand out to her. Kisuke had to bite his tongue just to keep from growling out a warning to the kid to _back the fuck off_ as she went on to say."I'm not hurt. More rattled than anything."

"You shouldn't lie to me Mizuki," Ichigo chastised her with a scowl as she slipped her hand into his and let him tug her from behind Kisuke. "I _saw_ one of those jerks slap you before you dropped him on his ass."

"Being slapped is nothing new Ichigo."

"I don't care if it's anything new or not. It's never happening again if I can help it." Ichigo said in a fierce tone that had Kisuke tilting his head slightly to the side as he observed and listened _carefully_ to the two. His mind already shifting and sorting through the information that Ichigo was letting slip.

Ichigo was in full on protector mode at the moment, meaning that the woman was either family or a very close friend of his. It was still somewhat difficult to say exactly which one she was. But at least Kisuke now firmly believed that Mizuki wasn't his lover.

If she had been, Ichigo would have been acting differently towards her.

The orange haired menace huffed after a moment or so and then slipped his jacket off and draped it over Mizuki's hunched shoulders before then saying, "I never want to see you hurt like you were before ever again. Now come on, Chad and I will walk you home. I believe that you promised to cook us dinner for helping you move into you're new home the other day."

"Oh- sure. Um..." She cast a look in his direction and looked hesitant for a moment before then walking back over to him and giving him a bow and politely thanking him for helping her, and then apologizing for the trouble that she had caused.

Kisuke said nothing for several moments, though he longed to. Instead his gaze flickered from her to Ichigo for a moment, noting that the kid wasn't nearly as tense as he had been moments ago. He was simply hanging back and watching the exchange curiously.

Gathering his own information in much the same manner that Kisuke had mere moment ago.

He would act accordingly if he felt that Kisuke was a threat of some kind to her wellbeing. Kiskue wanted to give the young man a feral grin, but instead politely told the woman that she wasn't any trouble at all and had nothing to apologize for. After all, she hadn't asked for the thugs after her to scare her and chase her.

She straightened her spine and gave him a grateful look before then turning back to Ichigo and Chad and returning to the pair's side and then walking away.

The moment that the three were far enough away from him not to notice, Kisuke slipped into one of the alleyways and started to follow the trio. Intending to learn where his woman lived before he went on home to plan his next move.

Upon finally seeing the three turn onto a small pathway that went up to a nice cozy two story home that had been up for sale recently and was literally just a five minute walk from his shop, Kisuke nearly started laughing knowing that he would be making an utter nuisance of himself by dropping by to visit her often from now on.

Starting later tonight when she was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mizuki, are you sure that you're alright?" Ichigo asked for like the umpteenth time since he and his friend had walked her home. Mizuki paused her movement's of slicing up a few vegetables to add to their dinner to look over her shoulder where her cousin was hovering.

"I'm fine Ichigo." She said as she then started slicing the vegetable's again while her cousin frowned at her and looked unconvinced of the fact that she _really_ was fine. Compared to the many, many times that she'd been knocked around prior to moving to Karakura to be closer to her newfound family members- she was fine.

At least she had gotten away this time with a minimum amount of injury.

She hadn't been so lucky the other times. The multiple fractures, broken bones and surgeries to stop internal bleeding was a testament of that fact.

"And Kisuke didn't do or say anything to upset you?"Ichigo asked in a concerned tone before then tacking on, "I'll go kick his ass if he did."

"Kisuke?" She questioned as she turned her head to look at him for a moment.

"The tall blond guy that you were standing behind." Ichigo deadpanned. She blinked at him before making an 'O' with her mouth as understanding dawned on her and then turned away again to resume her task.

"No, he didn't do or say anything to upset me. If anything he was trying to protect me."

"Is that so?" He said in a thoughtful tone as she finished cutting up the peppers and then scooped them up and put them into the frying pan with the steak strips.

"Why do you sound like you want an excuse to go and beat the poor man senseless?" She asked all of a sudden, her tone laced with suspicion.

"I-I don't. I'm just...worried is all. Kisuke has been a friend for several years and while that is undeniable- I don't want him sinking his claws into you. The man is manipulative and cunning and can at times even be cruel. Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying that he's a bad person or anything. Just...that he was showing an unusual amount of interest in you and I'm a little bit worried about that."

She eyed him strangely for a moment before saying, "I don't think he was interested in me like you think Ichigo. I'm more or less broken. I have no need for anyone outside of immediate family and friends. At this point I don't want a man in my life. And I'm not all that certain that I ever will again after what happened."

"Don't say things like that. It pisses me off." Ichigo snapped at her as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned himself back against the kitchen wall and crossed his ankles so that he could study her.

Mizuki was a beautiful young woman. Even he couldn't deny that no matter their blood bond.

She was sweet, caring, compassionate... In a lot of ways she sort of reminded him of Orihime in character, though she wasn't an airhead like Hime tended to be. _Thank god_.

And if he ever caught the guys that had hurt her- he'd rip their pathetic shriveled up little hearts right out of their chests. It was only fair after all, he thought as he looked her over again. After all of the pain and misery such people would deserve no less from him when they had treated such a fragile and beautiful girl so poorly.

He...just didn't understand how any man could treat someone like her so badly. Men were protectors for crying out loud! They were never supposed to raise their hand to someone more defenseless than they were. It was just, well..._wrong_.

Finally sighing, he dropped his arms and uncrossed his ankles and then pushed away from the wall and moved to stand beside her before saying gently, "You _are_ getting better. The road to recovery is long, and often times frustrating, but you are getting there. And who knows, maybe someday you'll change you're mind about being alone like you are now. And when that day comes...I hope that the guy you choose is someone that I can scare the hell out of. I want the bastard to keep his hands to himself until well after he's put a ring on your finger. But more than anything, I just want you to be happy again." She paused her movements again and looked up at him, he smiled and then leaned down to kiss her forehead and then pulled away and quickly scampered off to see what Chad was doing.

* * *

"So how did the omiai go today boss?" Tessai asked curiously as he set Kisuke's dinner before him. The man had been oddly quiet ever since his return to their home. So much so that he and the kids had begun to hope that something had finally occurred.

All three of them had come to an unspoken agreement long, long ago that Kisuke needed a woman around to chase away the loneliness that had been plaguing the man for a while now.

Kisuke froze up for a moment with his chop sticks in his mouth and blinked at his friend as he slowly chewed his food. "It went the same as the others before it." He finally replied once he'd swallowed his food. Tessai and the kids noticeably slumped a little bit where they sat.

"Now, now- it wasn't all bad," He said after a moment or so of hesitation. "I did find someone." They all instantly perked up and looked at him with weirdly happy expressions as they waited for him to continue speaking. "She's a friends or relative of Ichigo's. A pretty little gal by the name of Mizuki."

"Woo-hoo!" Jinta whooped as he practically started to jump around in place in excitement as Tessai reached out and hushed the boy and then asked.

"If she's a friend or relation of Ichigo's...won't that be an issue?"

"Hn, could be. I'd have to test the waters a bit to see how he'd react to me getting close to her before I could really say for sure." Kisuke said as he took another bite of his food.

Tessai merely nodded as Ururu frowned and then asked, "But why would Ichigo be bothered by the fact that you want Mizuki? Wouldn't he be happy that she would be cared for and protected?"

"I don't quite think it's as simple as that Ururu. Ichigo said a few things that make me think that Mizuki has had a rough time of things and wouldn't be all that receptive to my..._affections_."

"But why?! You're nice!" Jinta blurted out. Kisuke merely chuckled and reached out and ruffled the boy's hair.

"That may be so, but Ichigo is fiercely protective of Mizuki. And probably for good reason too. He hinted at her having been abused or something not too long ago because she's still healing."

"O-Oh." Jinta said quietly as he looked down at the table before then saying, "Then we'll just have to help keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing else happens to her."

"I'm way ahead of you kid," Kisuke said cheerfully before then tacking on, "I'm planning to spend tonight at her place, keeping guard. I don't want anything happening to her if I can help it."

The kids both nodded their heads in understanding and then quietly began to dig into their meals as Tessai said gently, "If you need any help, Kisuke…"

"I know. Thank you. All of you."

* * *

"I'm stuffed," Ichigo muttered as he leaned back in his seat lazily. "That was great. Thanks Mizuki."

Chad nodded his head in agreement and then stood up and stopped the woman from collecting the dishes so that he could do so instead.

"You cooked. So we'll clean." He said gently and then looked over at Ichigo and motioned with his head for him to follow him earning some grousing from her cousin as he slowly removed himself from his seat and helped to collect the dishes and stuff. And then disappeared into the kitchen as Mizuki sat back down in her chair and tried not to look uncomfortable.

It only took a few minutes for the two to finish up in the kitchen and then walk back out to rejoin her at which time Ichigo stated that it was getting late and the two needed to leave. Chad nodded and then waited for Mizuki to stand up so that he could give her a hug and thanked her again for the meal and then moved back so that Ichigo could say his goodbyes too.

"Think about what I said earlier," He said gently as he hugged Mizuki as well. "I know one day once you've healed you'll find someone special. Until then, I'll protect you." Releasing her, he stepped back and smiled at her as Chad chimed in.

"I'll help him protect you if you'll cook for me again."

"You're only saying that because Mizuki fed you."

"Yup." Chad said causing Ichigo to sputter slightly as his friend walked out the door before he then turned to her and said with a grin,

"Don't you just love the unrepentant way he said that?"

"Yup. I wish I could say such things in a similar fashion." Mizuki said with a small amused smile. Ichigo chuckled and ruffled her hair and then ran out of the door and paused only long enough to close it.

Once Mizuki was sure that the two young men were gone, she slowly sat back down in her seat and tried to think of something to do until she decided to call it a night. Ichigo hadn't been wrong, the hour was growing late. It was about six pm or so before she had finally gotten home. And the incident from earlier today was weighing heavily on her mind whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Sighing softly she wondered if she could maybe do a little bit of work for a little while before she finally went to bed. She still had enough time to get a few things done if she did. But first...she wanted to take a bath.

* * *

It was near two in the morning before Mizuki decided to call it a night.

And in that time she felt as if she had accomplished much as far as her work went. She'd finished several commission pieces that she would have to ship out at the local post office sometime in the morning. Plus she had made some extra pieces to put up for sale on her web site.

A site dedicated solely to her crafts. Unique Treasures, was her pride and joy.

Hiding a yawn behind one of her hands, she slowly shuffled her way upstairs to her bedroom and quickly used the bathroom and brushed her teeth before then collapsing into bed and curling up on her side and closing her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Kisuke had been watching Mizuki's house ever since he had finished eating his dinner. And now as the time quickly approached three am, it was finally time to make his move. He'd give the woman an extra hour or so since the lights had gone out to fall asleep just in case she had some trouble dozing off.

Slipping off of the roof of his shop, he deftly landed on the ground below on the balls of his feet and then started walking. Since the trip was more than just plain short, he had no real time to lose himself in his thoughts or mentally recall whether or not he'd remembered to slip his lock picking kit in his jacket pocket or not.

He was somewhat certain that he had by the weirdly uncomfortable way one side of his jacket drooped because it was heavier than the other side. Then again, that could have simply happened because he'd stuffed Benihime in his jacket pocket too to hide the blade's presence on his person.

Well, he supposed that he'd figure something out if he had in fact forgotten it. So there was really no reason to worry overly much.

Upon reaching Mizuki's home, he spent several moments attempting to figure out the best way to slip inside and was somewhat surprised to find one of the window's open a bit. _That will work perfectly._ He thought to himself as he bent his knees a little bit and then jumped.

Landing carefully on the roof of the porch, he then slipped a hand underneath the window and checked it for any signs of resistance or the lock being in place and smirked a little bit when he realised that the window would move easily without any need to tamper with it.

Sliding it up as far as he dared, he carefully climbed into the bedroom and quietly tugged the window back down into it's original position and then looked around to see where he was and blinked upon seeing Mizuki lying on her back with her face turned towards him, on the bed a few feet away.

He had knows that he would be entering a bedroom once he found the slightly opened window, but he hadn't known that he'd be climbing right into his woman's bedroom.

His heart pounded in his chest and his mouth went dry.

As lovely as Mizuki was awake, she was just as breathtaking when she slept. It was because of how vulnerable she looked like this. Or at least he thought that it had something to do with it.

Or maybe it was the fact that she was unaware of him and just how easily he could take advantage of her if he so desired. Not that he would. It would be cruel and the poor woman didn't need to be taken advantage of in any shape, form or fashion.

Despite the fact that he had long ago left the Soul Society- he still held his honor. Or what was left of it's tattered remains- close to him. And he understood well what the lack of honor could do to a woman as innocent as Mizuki and he would strive to be different in her eyes.

Deciding to check the rest of the house out of curiosity to know more about her, he silently slipped out of her bedroom and started walking from room to room.

One thing was clear just after leaving her bedroom. The place had been repainted recently. The color of the walls were a light off cream color with aqua trim. She also had a thing for paintings. Watercolors, oils, acrylics- it didn't really seem to matter as long as she had something to hang up on her walls.

Though he could see a definite pattern from the one's that he'd seen so far.

She liked flowers and butterflies. The more vivid, and beautifully eye catching, the better.

Walking downstairs, he made quick work of checking out her living room, kitchen and then the dinning room. The dinning room was a small surprise to him given the little bit of a mess that he found. Everything else was so oddly spotless that he couldn't fathom Mizuki leaving any sort of a mess behind anywhere. Even if it was just for a little while.

Lying strewn around her dinning room table was a bunch of plastic trays with beads, semi precious gemstones, some jewelry settings and boxes. And on top of some of the boxes, were some stuff that she had obviously finished earlier.

Curious, he meandered over to the table and randomly picked up a piece and studied it in the dim light. The piece fairly glowed in his hand. The metal had been lovingly polished to a high sheen and the gemstones- deep blue sapphires encircled by glittering little white diamonds- sparkled and twinkled just like little stars.

Turning the piece this way and that, he was tempted to pocket it and keep it on him at all times. But quickly thought better of it since this was probably how she made a living, and the item could have already been spoken for. And he didn't want to cause her any problems since the piece was obviously expensive.

Once he finished looking it over he carefully set it back down in the same exact place and position it had been in originally and then moved on to examine the other pieces. There were more than twenty in total. Some beaded, some set in high polished and gleaming metal, and others...looked like repair jobs.

Each one held his attention and his fascination before they were put back down.

He thought that he must like the fact that Mizuki had such talent that she liked using her hands to create things. He'd always had a weakness for women who could do artsy stuff. It didn't even matter _what_ kind of artsy stuff. He tended to like anything that a woman could do with her hands.

He'd even been known to sometimes sit himself down out of the way and simply _watch_ the creative process. He couldn't help but find such things fascinating.

Finally he finished examining all of the pieces and laid the last one back in it's original former position and then quietly wandered back up to the bedroom and paused in the doorway when he noted that Mizuki was missing from the bed. Figuring that she must have gone to the bathroom, he hid himself in the darkest corner of the room and waited.

She came out a moment or so later and shuffled back to the bed and flopped down on top of it face first and just lay there for a moment before he heard a sniffle. Staring over at Mizuki in horror, he noticed the first few tears slip down her pale face before she managed to roll over onto her side facing away from him and simply curled up in a ball and cried herself back to sleep.

Kisuke sat there in the darkness of her bedroom, his heart aching, his mind shifting from uncertainty to need and then back again. He needed to comfort her. But was uncertain if he should even try while she remained awake and aware.

Call him crazy but he was fairly certain that having her discover his presence in her home wouldn't end _well_ for him. Regardless of his reasons for being there.

And then there was a little certain orange haired pain in his ass- he was fairly certain that Ichigo- the moment that he heard of his trespass into Mizuki's home without her knowledge or consent would then proceed to_ violently_ kick his ass up one side of the block and then down the other until he either tired of doing so or his foot fell off.

Once he was sure that Mizuki was asleep again, then and only then did he move from his cozy little dark corner to walk over to the bed and look the woman over for any further signs of distress.

She looked so damned small and breakable to him that he couldn't resist reaching out to brush her long dark hair back from her face in careful butterfly light touches. Mizuki twitched underneath his fingertips but didn't wake. She must have exhausted herself crying. He thought sadly as he reluctantly removed his hand from her and then quietly moved back to his prior place across the room, in the shadows and settled himself on the floor again to continue his watch.


	4. Chapter 4

When Mizuki finally woke up, it was a little bit after nine am. Stifling a yawn behind one of her hands, she slowly pushed herself upright on her bed and blinked as the covers slipped from around her shoulders. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat there for a moment or so simply staring down at her lap like a zombie before slowly getting out of her bed and going about her morning routine.

Walking over to her dresser, she pulled out some clothing to wear for the day and then started to pull her shirt off when she heard a weird strangled sound from somewhere in the room and paused to look around. Only to find that there was nothing at all there.

"Where did that sound come from?" She wondered aloud, her expression perplexed as she scanned the room again before finally going about her business. Once her sleep shirt was off, she slipped a bra on- completely ignoring the second sound that she heard- because maybe her house was haunted or something and all she was hearing was the echo of some poor dead soul getting an eyeful.

Yeah that must be it.

Cause the only other reason that she could think of for those weird sounds was that someone aside from her was in her house...

Once her bra was in place she took a moment to adjust it a little bit. For some reason that she had yet to fathom the straps always gave her issues. How hard could it be for a confounded booby holder to actually hold her boobs? It wasn't like she wanted much out of her bras. Just to hold her tits in place instead of letting them flop around until one of them knocked her unconscious.

Grabbing her shirt- her favorite light, long sleeved sweater that was a pretty robin's egg color, and tugged it over her head and then slipped her sleep pants down her long slender legs and grabbed the pair of jeans that she had decided to wear today and quickly pulled them on and then wandered off into the bathroom to fix her hair.

* * *

Kisuke couldn't decide if he was in heaven or hell. Honestly he couldn't make up his mind.

On one hand there was the fact that Mizuki had almost caught him when she started to take her shirt off. To be perfectly honest he hadn't intended to make any noise like he had. He'd just been...well..._unprepared_ for the fact that she was going to start undressing right there in front of him.

And the moment that he'd caught sight of the pale globes of her breasts, he'd just about swallowed his tongue from shock. And then he'd accidentally made a sound and had to quickly climb her wall to attach himself to her ceiling just to keep his presence hidden.

But his torment didn't stop there. Oh no.

She had to strip out of her sleep pants as well.

His eyes had nearly popped right out of his head when he'd seen all of that smooth creamy skin. Dear god, for such a short gal, her legs were deceptively long. And mouthwateringly well toned.

And her butt! _OMG_ her butt!

He hadn't known that it was possible for a woman's butt to even look that_ pretty_. The gentle curves of her rear had been damned near perfect! So much so that if he ever decided to give the semi-mad scientist thing a rest and became a world dictator instead- he would have statues of Mizuki's bottom all over the place for himself to enjoy.

And her panties!

He'd thought he'd have a stroke once he saw just how _scandalous_ that damned scrap of white lace could be.

By the time Mizuki had shuffled into the bathroom, he was almost more than a bit reluctant to leave her even for a little bit. But since she was awake now, he had no choice in the matter. That plus he needed to go back anyways.

Tessai and the others were likely waiting on him at that very moment to hear how his night of guard duty had gone.

* * *

Mizuki wandered back out of the bathroom a few minutes later with her hair op in a ponytail and looked around her room again. She still had no idea where those damned sounds had come from. Maybe she should mention it to Ichigo the next time that she saw him.

"Oh well." She sighed as she grabbed a pair of socks from her dresser and then ran out of the bedroom to go downstairs and grab her other stuff so that she could head to the post office.

Once everything was collected and boxed up and the names and addresses were written on each box, she then slipped on her shoes, grabbed her jacket, and wallet. And then stuffed boxes all in a medium sized clothe bag to make it easier to carry them and then slipped the bag up onto her shoulder and headed for the door, grabbing her keys absently before she slipped out of the house.

Walking down the street when there was hardly anyone out was nice. She didn't have to push or shove her way past anyone. It was nice. Couple that with the sunny weather and it was very nice indeed.

Upon reaching the post office, she made quick work of shipping the items that she'd made the night before to their new owners and then left to go and grab some stuff from the grocery store to restock her dwindling food supply since Ichigo had pretty much been over everyday since she had moved and often tended to eat while he was visiting.

Walking through the doors of the local grocery store, she grabbed a buggy and started moving back towards the vegetables and fruits, completely missing the tall blond in the green and white stripped hat, watching her every move from underneath the edge of his hat.

* * *

He couldn't believe that Mizuki was there. After all, hadn't he just left her a short time ago? He mused to himself as he watched her wander off towards the veggies and fruits isle and decided to follow her at a discreet distance.

Placing the jar of preserves that he'd been looking at around the time he'd sensed her heading into the store, back down, he turned and began to meander in her direction.

He caught up to her as she was looking over some oranges and pears and paused to see what she would do- or rather which one she would favor more. He kept leaning towards the pears, because of their natural sweetness. But he knew that some people happened to like the citrus taste of oranges.

He bit his lip once she made her choice and put them in the buggy. And then gave an idiotic little grin as he thought happily, _She likes oranges_.

That was nice, he was fairly fond of them too. Maybe once the two of them had started seeing each other more he could half a few of his own oranges with her and just sit and talk a spell.

God he was just _pitiful _at the moment.

It was just insane how giddy he felt upon learning that she liked oranges. If Yorichi had been with him right then, she would have slapped him senseless for being so stupid and then she would have made him go and _talk_ to the woman instead of following her around like some sort of creep.

And he would listen to her, despite his better judgement- because she was a violent, violent woman and because she hit's hard. And he wasn't overly fond of the idea of trying to woo Mizuki covered in bruises and looking like Frankenstein's monster.

Following Mizuki was not only slightly informative for him, but somewhat entertaining as well.

The woman had this odd habit of talking to herself. Not really audibly enough to make people think that she was crazy- but almost enough to grab a few people's attention. He'd nearly doubled over in a fit of hysterical laughter when she'd seemed to freak out about the flour being 'fat free'. Her reasoning was-_ 'nobody wants to live forever'_.

Of course he wasn't the only person carefully watching her funny little melt down.

There was a ninety something little old lady with a buggy full to near overflowing with fat free foods and such who quickly agreed with Mizuki and ditched her buggy. And went hobbling down the isle grabbing random fat saturated foods in her boney little arms and then paused at the end of the isle to shout back, "Nobody wants to live forever!"

And then hobbled off with a little war cry as Mizuki stood there with a comical expression on her face before asking no one in particular out loud, "What just happened?"

He hadn't been able to help himself after that. He'd broken out into a fit of giggles and quickly had to hide himself to keep her from seeing him, though he'd not been able to stop his giggling for several minutes afterwards.

He made a mental note to himself to tell Tessai, the kids and Yorichi all about the incident later and resumed following her around the store.

Aside from the food in her buggy, she had also stopped by the clothing and looked at some stuff. Shirts mostly. And two cute little dresses. There had been a few nice ones on clearance that she seemed to really like.

One was a pretty mint green with some beaded sequins on it around the collar. Another was a red satin one with a ribbon that could be tied in a bow.

He'd thought that that one was pretty cute, even if she had decided not to get it.

She'd found a couple of black T-shirts and a few white ones too. They were plain, but he could definitely see the appeal. She found a couple of different colored sweaters with butterfly print on them. At least three of which would hang off of her shoulders enticingly.

She'd found a couple of vests too. A black one, an off white, and a pretty multi colored pastel one made out of patches of velvet.

Once she finished there she headed towards the jewelry area where he watched her in confusion as she seated herself on the floor and then began to carefully scrutinize and sift through various fashion necklaces, earrings and other things. The items were mostly crystal and faux pearls. All of which were different shapes, sizes and colors.

_Is this how she gets some of her work materials?_ He wondered curiously. Though he supposed that having her buy specific materials from the store was far better than ordering it all from specialty stores. She also probably got more items to work with for much less like this too.

Which was neat since not everyone in the world would think to do so.

She sat there for nearly ten minutes, sifting and sorting through things. Not that he minded in the least, he could tell by how quickly she was able to go through the items that she was already picturing and planning future projects.

Her mind was fascinating to see at work like this.

It was more than just quick. It was also very _sharp_.

Already he had calculated how many different ideas she must have come up with for different and various designs that she planned to create and he was _shocked_ to say the least. He had never met anyone human, Shinigami or otherwise that could think so quickly when it came to so many things at once.

Her mind must have been like a treasure trove of creative ideas and projects and designs. He'd love to sit down with her sometime and watch her work. He thought to himself as she finally finished up her task and placed her items in her buggy and then started walking around again.

She wandered around for close to another hour before finally deciding to check out.

And during the remaining time that he'd spent following her around, he'd noticed that she would need some help carrying all of her things back home since he hadn't seen any traces of a car last night.

Glancing down at his meager basket of...pretzels, apples and jam? He then put his basket down on the corner of a shelf and walked away from it figuring that he could always return later and finish up his shopping. He was sure that Tessai wouldn't injure him if he was honest about helping Mizuki carry her things back home.

Jinta and Ururu were an entirely different matter though.

And if he didn't return home later with actual food, he'd have to start sleeping with _both_ eyes open just to protect himself. He thought as he slipped outside while Mizuki was paying for her things.

He figured that catching her on her way out would be considered more of an 'accident' than if he simply walked up to her and asked her if she needed help. And maybe creeped her out. At least that way he could make himself look like he wasn't doing anything more important than simply wandering around aimlessly.

* * *

Mizuki walked out of the store internally cringing as she tried to keep hold of her bags.

_Maybe I went a little bit overboard?_ She thought to herself as she tried to shift her bags into a more comfortable- and less painful all, she had only meant to go in the store for food. But she hadn't really been able to walk away from the possibility of some new clothing and beads to work with.

Which had sort of landed her in this mess. She was well over a mile from her home. How the hell was she supposed to carry everything on her own? And started to wonder if maybe she should call Ichigo or one of his 'approved' friends all of whom she'd found the phone numbers to mysteriously programed into her phone- when she felt someone move up behind her and froze for a moment as a weird chill crept down her spine mere seconds before she heard a familiar voice say, "You look like you need a hand there, Miss."

Slowly turning her head and blinked when she came eye to eye with a man's chest. A very _nice_ man's chest.

"Huh?"

The owner of said chest, let out a soft rumble of laughter as a large, but gentle hand reached out and very carefully tipped her head back so that she could see his face before then dropping away from her again. She blushed slightly from mortification as she came face to face with her cousin's friend.

The same one that had tried to save her from those thugs the day before.

"My eyes are up here," He said in amusement as he smiled at her. His grey eyes alight with mirth. "Now, would you like some help with you're things?"

She couldn't think of what to say in response to his question, so she just mutely nodded her head and let him move to take the heavier bags from her hands before then moving back a little bit. "Alright, you'll have to lead me to you're destination since I don't know where it is."

She made a weird sound and simply lifted her hand and pointed in the direction she wanted to go. Her eyes never leaving him. He bent down a little bit to make a little bit of a show of seeing where she was pointing and then smiled at her again as he straightened his spine and then said, "Alright. After you."


	5. Chapter 5

Kisuke was content to quietly observe Mizuki as she walked along beside him. Ever since offering to help her back at the store, she'd been oddly quiet. Her mind and body seemed to be doing things on autopilot. In truth it was somewhat concerning to him.

And quickly became even more so when she accidentally walked herself right into a telephone pole and fell on her butt. He stopped walking for a moment to turn and look down at her, his grey eyes wide in utter horror as he internally cringed a little bit and asked her if she was okay.

She merely rubbed her sore face- which had gotten scratched by the wood when she had walked herself into it, and slowly nodded her head yes. He sighed wondering what was wrong with her and shifted his hold on her things so that he could free up one hand and moved to help her up.

She blinked at him as he offered her his hand. Her expression a strange cross between _want_ and _fear_.

He supposed that since she didn't know him well, that the reaction was normal for her. But it didn't mean that it didn't hurt him a little bit when she looked up at him cautiously with those wide turquoise colored eyes before slowly, very _slowly_, slipped her hand into his and allowed him to gently help her up.

"Thank you." She said softly as he stepped back away from her.

"You're welcome. Though you should probably watch where your going for now on." He suggested before then tacking on, "I really don't think I'd be able to carry you're stuff and you as well." It was a lie of course. Kisuke was more than fully capable of carrying her and her things if she should injure herself again. He simply didn't think that she would appreciate being carried around by a strange man.

"O-Oh. Right." She muttered as he waited for her a moment or so longer before they started walking again. This time it wasn't nearly as quiet as it had been before. Her little accident with the telephone pole had seemed to break whatever spell was rendering the man mute.

He decided to ask her questions. Things like, was she new to town. When did she get there? How did she know Ichigo? How close were they? Had she managed to meet anyone yet? Had she looked around town yet and familiarized herself with the area?

They were just...harmless questions that anyone who was curious would ask. Which was why she even bothered to answer him in the first place. That and Ichigo had told her yesterday that the man was a friend. So surely he had some right to drill her for answers. As long as his questions weren't too invasive.

"I moved here about two or so weeks ago. Ichigo is my cousin, from his mother's side of the family. We...we're fairly close, I guess. We only learned about each other a few months beforehand so we're still sort of bonding. The only people I've met so far as Ichigo, his dad and sisters and one or two of his immediate friends. Yourself and Chad and someone named Rukia. I'm a little bit ashamed to admit that the only places that I'm totally familiar with in the immediate area are the post office and the grocery store." She said awkwardly before then muttered with a fetching blush. "I-I'm afraid that I...uh...don't get out much."

"You don't say," Was all that he said for several moments before then saying, "That's terrible. You know, if you wanted I could show you around. I mean, once I finish working for the day my afternoons are pretty much free unless a disaster of some kind occurs. I could show you all the places that you could go to have fun. There are parks, hiking trails, libraries, stores and shops-"

"That's very sweet of you," She said with a small smile. "But...for now I'd really rather stick close to home."

"Oh. Well I won't lie and say that I'm not a little bit disappointed. I was kind of looking forward to acting as a tour guide."

"I'm sorry. I'm just...not very comfortable with new places. I kind of have really bad anxiety attacks and stuff."

"Oh? How bad are they?"

"I-I've passed out and stopped breathing a time or two."

"_Wow_, that is bad." He said looking more than a little bit shocked by her admittance. He hadn't been aware that someone could actually stop breathing from an anxiety attack. He'd never heard of such before. Then again, all of the people that he ever had any contact with were virtually freaks of nature.

He couldn't imagine any of them having such issues. But then again, Mizuki seemed to be an ordinary human woman. So maybe...it wasn't totally unheard of for humans? He supposed that he'd have to look into that since there might be an underlying medical condition that could become exacerbated by her anxiety attacks and cause her to stop breathing.

"I'm sorry-" Mizuki said however he cut her off before she could say anything else.

"Don't apologize. I'm assuming that there are reasons behind the severity of you're anxiety attacks- however I won't ask what they are since you don't know me very well just yet and are already uncomfortable enough as is. I will say this though, I have some medical training. So...i-if you ever have a bad one and need help...you can call me. I'll give you my phone number before I leave you, just to be on the safe side."

"That's very sweet of you, but I don't want to be a bother."

"You won't be," He said, his tone was a little bit harsher than he intended for it to be, startling her slightly before he quickly gentled his tone. "I deal with demanding people _daily_. It's not like having you call me when you need me will hurt me or anything."

"You say that now. But even Ichigo says that I'm needy."

He snorted and shook his head, "Have you even seen the picture in the newest version of the dictionary? The one beside the word and definition of 'needy'? It's Ichigo's picture. Because that boy is _constantly_ demanding attention from someone and getting himself into such messes that it's absolutely mindboggling just how he's managed to live this long."

"That's bad." Mizuki giggled.

"And yet it's no less true. Honestly I just want to ring the boy's neck sometimes. I just don't know what else to do with him." He said, eliciting another bout of soft laughter from her that had him laughing too.

He could imagine Ichigo scowling at him now. Maybe even boxing his ears for talking badly about him behind his back. But he didn't care, he was too busy enjoying a good laugh at the poor kids expense with Mizuki.

He liked hearing her laugh. She had a pretty smile too. He mused to himself.

But then, he'd already known that before hand.

He started to open his mouth to tell her that she was beautiful when she smiled, however he was cut off by the joyful shouts of Jinta and Ururu and looked towards the sounds of their voices just in time to let out a very undignified squawk as the two tackled him to the ground and quickly grabbed Mizuki's groceries and then fled so quickly that he barely had any time to sit up and yell after them before they were gone.

And once they were, he felt his grey eyes flicker to Mizuki's stupefied form as she stammered out. "D-Did those children just mug us?" She sounded totally aghast by the very idea. So much so that all he could think of to do was bury his face in his hands and groan at the insane antics of his dear little_ monsters_.

"No- well- okay...maybe a little bit." He finally replied while making mental notes to ground the two kids to keep a repeat of this from happening in the near future.

She looked at him with a flabbergasted expression as he slowly got up from the ground and brushed himself off before she finally got around to asking him if he was okay. He let the fact that she was so shocked that her mind must not have been working right, slide since he couldn't exactly blame her for feeling like she did right then.

He was sure that anyone else would have been remiss in proper social protocols too in her place.

"I wonder where those kids came from..." He finally heard her say curiously. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that they were _his_ kids. Since he was essentially their creator and father. But he thought better of it since she might think that he was married or something.

"I'm not sure." He lied as he sighed. Those damned brats had pushed his wooing back significantly with their little stunt as he awkwardly said, "Well since they took you're food- how about I buy you dinner or something? At least until I can replace what they took."

She looked as if she wanted to say no, but he quickly cut her off with a stern sounding, "It's my fault that the kids took your stuff, let me make it up to you."

She sighed and looked away from him for a moment before then slowly nodding her head and then randomly asking, "Did you see that little girl?"

"I did." He said, his tone slightly suspicious.

"She was really cute, huh?"

"Yeah, she was." He said with a small frown as he caught sight of the far away look of longing on her face and felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest at the implications of such a look. His mind stuttered to a stop as she looked at him again and gave him a sad smile before then reaching out and gently taking his hand in hers and slowly tugging him towards her place.


	6. Chapter 6

Kisuke was very quiet after that. In all honesty he was trying desperately to make sense of what he was feeling now that he had at least gleaned the important information about Mizuki's past. He was still trying to get over the fact that somewhere in the world, she had a child.

A little girl to be exact.

He was still trying to sort details out in his mind. After all, he hadn't seen any evidence of a child in her home. So maybe it was with it's father? Or had something happened to the kid? Had it been kidnapped? Was it sick? Or was it- and it even hurt him to think about this- _dead_?

He understood very well that terrible things happened to good people all the time. Ichigo, Rukia and the other kids had often bemoaned this fact when they had visited him in their younger years for the sole purpose of ranting, and trying to figure such things out until he tired of listening and kicked them out.

But that was neither here nor there.

He understood well that terrible things happened to good people. And Mizuki _was_ a good person. That was a fact that was easy to see. What he couldn't seem to comprehend was the weird feeling of _betrayal_ that he felt.

His woman had bore the child of another.

And while she didn't seem to be with that person anymore, until he found out more about the particulars of that detail- he would probably continue to feel betrayed for a while.

He'd have to buy her dinner and then leave to ensure that he didn't lash out and say or do anything stupid to around her that would cause her to reject him later on.

Once they were at her home, she let go of his hand and went to unlock the door when it suddenly swung open, nearly hitting her- and causing Kisuke to reach out and quickly grab her and pull her away as Ichigo peeked out. "Mizuki," He greeted her with a warm smile. "It's about time you got back. I got a funny call a while ago from Tessai, saying that I might need to go by the grocery store for you and was waiting for you to come back and make me a list."

"Huh?" She said unintelligibly as she saw his smile falter a little bit upon seeing Kisuke standing behind her. His large hands lightly gripping her shoulders.

"Kisuke, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the shop?" Ichigo asked in a slightly suspicious tone. His usually warm amber eyes, were cold like ice as he eyed the blond's hands on Mizuki.

Mizuki looked between her cousin and Kisuke in confusion, trying to figure out just _why_ Ichigo seemed so displeased with seeing his friend. I mean, he had said that they were friends. And Kisuke had confirmed this himself earlier. So why did he look like he wanted to take the blond around the back of her home and _smite_ him?

"You're right, I am," Kisuke said softly. "I was going to buy Mizuki here dinner since I was mugged and her food was taken. But since you're here, I guess that I'll save it for another time. If that's alright with you, Mizuki?"

"O-Oh, yeah. Sure. I don't want to hold you up any further or anything."

Kisuke didn't have to force himself to smile no matter how disturbed he was feeling. "It's not any trouble, sweetheart. Speaking of, before I go- why don't I give you my number? Hn?"

"Oh right, here." Mizuki said as she dug her cell phone out of her pants pocket and then handed it to him. Kisuke smirked as he met Ichigo's eyes. The kid looked like he was about to punch him in the face but was holding himself back because his cousin was there as he took her phone from her and quickly programed his cell number into it and then held it back out to her.

"Remember, you can call me whenever you need me." He said as she took the phone from him with a nod and then politely thanked him for his help. He smiled at her and gave her a little finger wave as Ichigo finally _growled_ in annoyance and then pulled her into the house by her wrist and slammed the door in his face.

Kisuke did his best to maintain his look of innocence as he caught the kid staring daggers at him through the window. But it was really no use trying. He and Ichigo both knew that he wasn't the least bit innocent. Now all he wondered was just how long it would take the boy to pay him a visit to kick his ass.

* * *

The moment that Kisuke was gone, Ichigo turned to Mizuki and sighed when he caught the puzzled expression on her face. "What was that about?" She asked after a moment or so.

"It's nothing. I just...didn't expect him to be with you and I guess that I overreacted a bit that's all." Ichigo said as he slowly moved away from the window to walk over to her. She had such a confused look on her face that he couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and hugging her and burying his face in her hair.

"Ichigo?"

"Hn?"

"You're oddly clingy today. Is everything alright? Are you're sisters-" Mizuki started to ask worriedly. He chuckled softly and gave her a small squeeze before loosening his hold on her again and simply saying.

"Their fine, Mizuki. I promise. I guess that today is just a little bit of an off day for me. I'm feeling more possessive than usual."

"You were acting like a jealous boyfriend." Mizuki deadpanned causing him to abruptly let her go and quickly start stammering out all kinds of denials.

"I was not! Don't say things like that! If people heard that then they'd think we were weird-"

"No, they would think_ you_ were weird. There's a difference."

"That isn't the point! You can't say things like that!" Ichigo whined as Mizuki laughed at him. His face was so red that he could have easily been mistaken for a tomato. He gnashed his teeth at her and growled out that she needed to write out a list for him so that he could go and get her groceries and she absently nodded and wandered off to do as he bid.

While she was off in the kitchen digging around for a pen and a notepad, Ichigo was standing where she had left him with one hand against his chest and a disconcerted look on his face. His heart was hammering frantically against his ribs in an peculiar fashion.

He frowned a little bit as he tried to figure out why and mulled over what Mizuki had just said to him. Even he would say that his behavior was slightly..._uncharacteristic_ of him. Especially when he had found Kisuke with her. He'd felt an oddly unfamiliar spike of anger towards the man for even being near her.

And the fact that he'd touched her had elicited some weird feelings in him too.

He'd wanted to actually _rip_ the man's arms off and watch him bleed out.

Dropping his hand away from his chest, he glanced towards the kitchen for a moment and frowned again not really knowing what to think and feeling slightly uncomfortable with her earlier observation. Even if it was a joke. It...was incredibly unsettling to him.

Finally Mizuki re joined him and held the shopping list out to him and then asked if he would he was okay to carry it back alone. He took the piece of paper from her and gave her a small smile and told her that he'd be fine.

The gears in his head were already turning a mile a minute in an effort to sort things out and maybe understand his feelings a little bit more in regards to Mizuki as he folded and tucked the paper away in his pants pocket and asked her if they were still on for movie night.

She grinned and told him that he should pick up a few snacks for himself and then tried to give him some money for her groceries, but he waved her off saying that he'd get the stuff on his own and then leaned over and pressed his mouth to her cheek in his usual manner and then turned and walked out of the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Once he was gone from Mizuki's house, Ichigo started to mentally debate with himself on whether or not he should go and have words with Urahara. But thought better of it after a few moments of careful deliberation and instead decided to go ahead and go to the store and get the stuff on the list that Mizuki had given him since he didn't like the idea of his cousin starving to death.

However one thing that he had decided on since he would be at Mizuki's place until late tomorrow morning was to call Chad and ask him to go to his home and put together an overnight bag for him with enough stuff to get him through a day or two since he figured that if Kisuke was up to something- he'd return to Mizuki's place well after lights out.

Chad had agreed to do so without asking many questions, which was good since Ihigo wasn't all that sure that explaining that he wanted to keep Kisuke away from her wouldn't sound...fishy.

After all, like he had explained to Mizuki before. Kisuke was more or less a _friend_.

And while it didn't exactly make any sense to him how he had been behaving, towards the guy when he hadn't really done anything wrong per sey… He just didn't like the fact that the blond was giving his cousin an unusual amount of attention in his own round about, and sneaky way.

Sighing because thinking about Kisuke and the motives that might be driving the man to do what he was doing was giving him one hell of a headache.

Still...it wouldn't stop him from setting up a trap for the man so that he could get his answers. After all, Ichigo was nothing but thorough when he was looking into something. And Kisuke's unusual behavior was definitely something worth looking into.

Lifting his hands up to his face, he slapped himself on both cheeks to try and get his mind off of Kisuke for the moment and focus on getting Mizuki's things and their upcoming movie night. He was feeling in the mood for something downright gory. Luckily for him, Mizuki's tastes in movies was similar.

He'd never met a girl that could sit so still during a horror film and not _cringe_ every time somebody let out a blood-curtling scream. Hell even he had jumped a few times.

The horror movies The Ring, The Grudge, and a few of the Resident Evil, and Saw movies had practically sent him dodging for cover behind Mizuki's couch the first few times that he'd seen them. And for good reason too. Seeing such gore in a film was upsetting because some of the actual situations were often based on reality.

And it wasn't often that he indulged in such things. Especially after all the years of seeing such _horrors_ first hand.

Some of the scenes were just so realistic that they brought back bad memories for him that caused his fight or flight instincts to override his common sense. Mizuki never said anything to him about it, in fact she seemed a little bit amused by the fact that he sometimes hid behind her couch during some of their movie nights.

But that was only because she didn't understand his reasons for doing so. And he was somewhat grateful to her for not bothering to pry and asking him anything about the reasons behind his need to hide whenever he saw something in particular in a movie.

He was pretty sure that lying would hurt her feelings and telling the truth would give her nightmares not terribly unlike his own.

Getting her groceries was easy, especially with the list that she had written out for him.

Mizuki had a weird habit of counting out specific quantities of stuff per item, letting him know exactly what was needed. And since it didn't take him a terribly long time to finish up at the grocery store, he decided to grab them some dinner and some junk food to eat later on before finally heading back to the house.

Once he was back, the door opened up, causing him to blink and tense up for a moment before Chad peeked out from the other side. "Ichigo."

"Oh, hey Chad. I didn't expect you to stick around."

The taller man nodded his head and looked him over for a moment, a small frown marring his face before realizing that he was in the way and quickly backing up so that Ichigo could come inside of his cousin's home. Once Ichigo was inside, Chad gently shut the door behind his friend and started to scrutinize him again while his back was turned.

He had thought something was wrong earlier when Ichigo had called him to ask him to go by his home and pack him an overnight bag. Mostly because it was uncharacteristic of him to spend the night with someone unless he was injured or there was something big going on.

But Ichigo seemed fine. Physically at least.

Maybe he was looking for something that really wasn't there? Still, he couldn't help but wonder what Ichigo was up too.

After handing the food off to Mizuki, Ichigo quickly excused himself to go see what was up with Chad since his friend was acting oddly. Walking out of the kitchen, Ichigo moved to grab the giant by his hand and led him to the far side of the living room before finally releasing him and asking him what was wrong.

"Nothing. You just seem..._off_ to me." Chad muttered as Ichigo reached up and rubbed the back of his neck absently before saying softly,

"Yeah, sorry. Mizuki pointed that out to me earlier and I sort of trying to sort things out."

"Do you need any help with something?"

"I... You know, to be honest I'm not entirely sure." Ichigo said with a sigh.

Chad frowned again, not used to seeing Ichigo so confused and bothered by something outside of his work as a Soul Reaper and just nodded his head before then calling out, "Mizuki, is it alright if I spend the night too?"

The woman poked her head out of the kitchen for a moment and opened her mouth to ask him why her home was suddenly becoming a wayward-home-for-troubled-boys, but thought better of it since there was no real harm in having either of them stay with her for a night or so.

"I don't mind, if you're sure that it's what you want to do. Ichigo and I were going to have a movie night."

"Sounds like fun." Chad said with a smile as she nodded her head and then returned to her prior task of putting things away and let chad and Ichigo resume their talk. "What kind of movies were you going to watch?"

Ichgo shrugged, "Horror I think. She has a weirdly extensive collection of nothing but horror films."

"Cool."

"Chad, you know that you don't have to stay if you get bored or anything."

"What's to be bored from? I like you and I like Mizuki too. Besides, I wanna see if she jumps. I know that you sometimes do." Chad said with an evil grin. Ichigo blushed a little bit and growled at him playfully,

"Been watching me again?"

"Yup." Chad said in amusement. Ichigo scowled at him for a moment before they both started laughing.

* * *

Since Ichigo hadn't foreseen Chad deciding to pop in and stay for the night with him and his cousin, the dinner that he'd bought for himself and Mizuki was shared between the three of them.

Much to both his and Chad's chagrin.

The two young men had protested that Mizuki should eat her half of the food without sharing it, but she'd simply handed half of her portion to Chad and smiled as she urged him to eat. Which had caused the poor guy to shoot daggers at Ichigo as he slowly, and hesitantly ate what he was given by the woman.

After which Mizuki had decided to fix some home made cookies, a fruit salad, and a few other odds and ends for them to munch on during the evening. Just in case the boys got hungry again. Which she was fairly certain that they would since boys their age tended to be like bottomless pits when it came to food.

Something that she teased the two about when they awkwardly tried to stop her from fixing their nightly snacks before finally relenting after Mizuki had caught Chad eating a sandwich barely ten minutes after their dinner.

Ichigo had looked at his friend as if he wanted to beat him with a stick for a minute or so before sighing and then stealing half of Chad's sandwich right out of the bewildered young man's hands and then quickly dashed to another room somewhere in the house as Chad got up out of his seat to go and track him down so that he could wrestle it from him.

Mizuki merely watched the two's antics with a fond shake of her head before she heard Ichigo screaming something and a loud crash sound somewhere down the hall mere seconds before Chad returned, and started to make himself another sandwich while biting him lip to keep from laughing aloud as Ichigo staggered back into the living room. And flopped, face down on the couch looking as if he'd been body slammed or something.

"What did you do to him?" Mizuki asked as she looked at chad wide eyed.

Chad's lips merely twitched as he took a moment to collect himself before saying, "Nothing. He tripped and fell down the stairs."

"I can't imagine Ichigo being so clumsy."

Chad was all but shaking with laughter now, "Niether can I. That's why it's so funny."

"You both suck!" Ichigo moaned pitifully from the living room as he rubbed his sore butt. Earning even more laughter from his friend as well as a few poorly disguised giggles from Mizuki.


	8. Chapter 8

Movie night didn't actually start until well after it was dark outside. And during the time before it, Mizuki, Ichigo and Chad had taken turns occupying each other with card games, trivia, and even...a _Ouija board_?

Ichigo and Chad weren't all that sure where Mizuki had gotten he stupid thing, but they'd made sure to distract her while one of them had grabbed it and run out back and destroyed it so that nothing bad could manifest and start trouble for the woman.

After all, those things were gateways that created problems for those that knew little to nothing about them.

Mizuki had asked what had happened to it, and Ichigo had come up with some lame excuse that a ghost had stolen it once her back was turned. Chad hadn't known what else to add to the story to give it more credibility, so he had just sat there and nodded his head mutely.

And then checked his wrist watch to see what time it was before then announcing that it was dark outside and movie night could finally begin. Once that was established, the three of them practically dashed for the living room couch and bickered for several minutes over which film to watch first.

Chad had wanted to see The Ghosts of Connecticut. Mizuki had wanted to watch, The Conjuring. And Ichigo had wanted to watch Thirteen Ghosts.

So to decide which film they would watch, they all had several intense bouts of rock-paper-scissor's. Which Ichigo won.

About ten minutes into the movie, Ichigo had oddly found his way into Chad's lap and his friend was doing his absolute best not to laugh at the smaller man and startle him. The last time he'd made the mistake of startling Ichigo, he'd gotten decked by him.

And it had hurt. _Badly_.

Nearly twenty or so minutes into the movie, Ichigo had somehow managed to wiggle himself between Chad's back and the couch and was watching the movie from over the taller man's shoulder while Chad tried desperately to suppress his laughter each time something happened in the movie.

Mizuki didn't seem to mind the blood or the gore. She was munching on a freshly peeled orange for a little while and then once she finished it, asked Chad if he and Ichigo needed anything and then went to fetch them all some drinks and some cookies.

Having Ichigo munch on his share of the cookies was a tad bit tricky. Especially when the smaller man accidentally nipped Chad's ear with his teeth while trying to take a bite out of a cookie.

Chad jerked a little bit at the unfamiliar sensation of small sharp teeth getting far to close to his ear and then shot Ichigo a warning look from over his shoulder. Not that Ichigo really knew what he had done. He had half a cookie in his mouth and was slowly chewing on it while his eyes stayed riveted on the TV screen.

"Chad, maybe you should move over here with me." Mizuki suggested softly, earning a slightly uneasy look from Ichigo.

"Sure." Chad said as he started to scoot himself close to her when Ichigo latched onto him like a little monkey, startling the two slightly.

"Dude! No abandoning your friend." He whined.

"But, I got an offer to sit with your cousin- You know, the defenseless girl."

"No, means no!" Ichigo snapped.

"But what if Mizuki is scared?" Chad asked, wanting to see if Ichigo would let him go since it was Mizuki wanting him to sit next to her. However Ichigo was stubborn.

"You have a lap. She can sit there if she's scared." Ichigo reasoned, refusing to let him go.

Chad rolled his eyes at his friends antics and cast an apologetic glance in Mizuki's direction as she smiled and simply said, "Ichigo, why don't you come over here and sit between me and Chad. That way you'll be protected on both sides."

"Sold!" Ichigo said as he quickly scrambled out from behind Chad and scurried across the couch and seated himself next to his cousin who then looked expectantly at him. Chad huffed softly, but didn't bother trying to hide his amusement as he moved to sit on the other side of Ichigo.

Once there, Ichigo wiggled a little bit and then stopped and leaned his head onto Mizuki's shoulder and let her wrap an arm around him and start running her fingers though his messy orange hair. Making the younger man smile a little bit as they continued to watch the movie to it's conclusion and then watched Chad's movie.

They managed to watch almost seven movies. The last of which had been Gravedancers when Chad happened to look over at Mizuki and then nudged Ichigo with his elbow. "What's it?" Ichigo asked with a wide yawn.

"I think Mizuki finally nodded off."

Ichigo twisted his head around to look at his cousin and snorted softly upon seeing that Chad was right. Mizuki was sleeping pretty deeply, so she must had conked out a while ago. Which wasn't all that surprising considering that it was nearing six thirty in the morning and they had all been up since yesterday without any rest.

"Looks like it."

"S-Should one of us take her up to her bed?" Chad asked. Ichigo carefully pushed himself upright, his back popping in various places as he did so, earning a groan from him as he stretched a little bit before then standing up and then turning to carefully collect his cousin in his arms.

"I'll take her up and tuck her in." He said softly. Chad nodded his head in understanding and turned back to the movie, wondering if he should call it a night as well.

He knew that Ichigo had to be drowsy- he had been attempting to go to sleep for a little while now but had stayed awake for some unfathomable reason.

Tilting his head a little bit, he couldn't even hear Ichigo moving around in the house. And for a brief moment, his spirit energy had been there- but now it wasn't. Getting up from his seat, he didn't even bother to pause the movie since it was almost as it's end anyways and slowly and cautiously made his way through the house to see if everything was okay.

He found Ichigo and Mizuki upstairs in her room. Though he hadn't expected to find Ichigo leaning over the sleeping woman, kissing her.

His eyes widened in shock upon seeing Ichigo in such a position. Especially with his sleeping cousin. Quickly moving back away from the bedroom so that Ichigo wouldn't see him any, he hid himself in one of the spare bedrooms and waited for Ichigo to pass him.

He wondered for a moment if he should confront Ichigo about what he had done to Mizuki. But decided to try and speak with him about it later. After they had both slept a bit and their nerves weren't likely to be so frayed.

* * *

Kisuke was hiding in Mizuki's closet when Ichigo carried her into the bedroom.

He'd expected the boy to simply put his cousin to bed and then leave. But this- He hadn't expected _this_. To find Ichigo crossing a line that he shouldn't have ever crossed. Especially with his woman while she was unaware of what was being done to her.

It was sick and dishonorable!

By the time the kid had left Mizuki's bedroom several moments later, Kisuke was nearly livid with_ rage_.

How dare he! How dare that orange haired little shit_ touch_ his woman! Kisuke seethed as he slowly moved out of the closet and walked over to Mizuki's bed and stared down at her for a moment. He was half tempted to take her from her bed and disappear with her.

But he knew that doing so would frighten her and cause her to never trust him again.

"Just a little bit longer, my love." He whispered softly as he reached out to gently cup the side of her face in one of his hands.

* * *

Ichigo stepped into his guest bedroom feeling nearly livid. How dare he. How _dare_ Kisuke come into his cousin's home and hide himself somewhere. Ichigo had felt his presence in Mizuki's room before he had even went up the stairs to put Mizuki to bed.

He had wondered when the man would show up. And since he had appeared mere moments before Ichigo had collected Mizuki to carry her up- he could only assume that the man had been watching the house. And what was even worse, his presence had spurred Ichigo to do something unforgivable to his cousin.

Even if it was just a small kiss and she wasn't aware.

It was a line that he had never meant to cross. Especially with her. But now that he had crossed it- he wasn't all that sure that he could bring himself to regret it.

And he didn't know what to do about that. He really,_ really_ didn't.


	9. Chapter 9

Ichigo had barely managed to sleep at all last night after going to bed in the guest room. His mind had simply been racing around too much to allow any sort of reprieve for any length of time. And then there was the fact that he had tracked Kisuke before he had left, and had found a note pinned to his 'room' door shortly after the man had left the house that simply read,

_Midnight. By the docks. _

_How original_, Ichigo thought scornfully knowing that Kisuke was calling him out over Mizuki. Not that it mattered any. Ichigo was all for beating the blond for coming into his cousin's home uninvited. And maybe he'd even get some answers about the reasons _why_ he had been there in the first damned place while he was at it.

In the mean time he had bigger things on his mind. Like his actions last night before he had left his cousin. He'd been up a majority of the morning thinking about things- aside from the pain that he was going to rain down on Kisuke's miserable, demented head- and had come to the conclusion that he would simply be honest with Mizuki and ask her if it would be okay if he...dated her?

He knew that she was reluctant to try again after what her former lover had done to her. He knew and he understood, truly he did. Just like he knew that she was still healing. But he... sort of _hoped_ that since she knew him, and knew that he wouldn't hurt her- that maybe things would work a little bit more in his favor.

He would let her go as slowly as she liked. He wasn't going to push for anything more than she was willing to give. He even figured that if maybe he set up a sort of safety net for her- just in case she freaked out or got scared for any reason- then maybe it would help her feel better.

But for it to work, she would have to come up with the terms of the agreement.

Which was fine. She could choose the method of the safety net and it's purpose if it made her feel better about being in a relationship with him. He didn't care as long as she was happy. And that was his long-term and main goal here.

To make her happy.

To give her what she needed and help her feel safe and cherished and protected.

Sighing softly in defeat, he rolled off of the bed and then quietly went about his usual morning routine knowing that he would still be the only one awake for at least another hour in a half. He grabbed a clean set of clothes out of his duffle bag and then walked out of the bedroom to go and take a shower while he planned out what to make for breakfast for everyone.

The shower helped him to settle down to a degree. The warm water had unknotted some of his tense muscles, and helped him to feel a tad bit better. But it did little to ease his nervousness and anxiety for what was going to happen a little bit later.

Leaving the bathroom, he slowly ambled his way downstairs to the kitchen and started to dig through the fridge for some stuff to fix for breakfast. He was planning to fix some miso soup with tofu, some onigiri, tamagoyaki, a side salad with either mustard or ginger dressing and some grilled fish.

He was half way through making the onigiri and tamagoyaki when Chad sauntered into the room and then paused and looked around for a moment before figuring out that Mizuki wasn't there and took a deep breath before asking, "Is Mizuki still asleep?" If so then he didn't want the two of them to get into a shouting match when he confronted Ichigo about his actions last night.

Ichigo cast him a curious look from over his shoulder before slowly replying, "Yeah. She'll sleep a bit longer. Probably until the food is laid out on the table."

Chad nodded his head silently in understanding when Ichigo asked, "Is there something on you're mind?"

"Yeah."

"It's about last night isn't it?"

Chad frowned, as Ichigo put the onigiri in his hands down on the plate that he was using to lay them out on, and gave him a pointed look. "It is," Chad finally said after a moment or so. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Staking a claim, apparently..." Ichigo said with a frown of his own. "I-I like Mizuki. As-"

"More than a cousin and a friend?" Chad supplied helpfully. Ichigo did this weird little finger snap and pointed at him with his index finger. As if to say, _You got it in one. _

"I see." Was all that Chad could think to really say to his friend. I mean, it wasn't as if such things were uncommon in japan. It was just... It was somewhat _shocking_ to know that Ichigo was looking among his own kin- even the distant ones- for a significant other.

After all, Ichigo was one of the most single powerful beings in the known world. Even more so than Aizen had been after fusing with the hogyoku and becoming a literal _god_. Then again, perhaps it wasn't all that shocking that he was looking among his own blood for a significant other.

If his family could give birth to multiple people with strong abilities then it only stood to reason that others with latent abilities existed among them and might actually be able to handle being with someone like him. Otherwise his only choices in significant others were...Orihime and Rukia.

And Rukia, as a soul reaper was already out of the running for more than one reason. Mostly the fact that she was married and expecting her first child.

Orihime too if the progression of her relationship with Uryu was any indication at all.

"Is it weird?" Ichigo suddenly asked, his tone soft, small, barely audible even to Chad's ears. "I mean, is it weird that I want Mizuki in such a way after all of the crap we've been through since we were kids. Is it wrong of me to want something, or someone for myself?"

"No. It's not weird. Surprising maybe. But not weird or wrong." Chad replied with a sigh before then asking, "How are you going to do this? I can't imagine that she'll be terribly receptive. It's one thing to be her cousin, but crossing the line between family/friends and lovers is totally different."

"Well, I thought that I would first come clean about what I want. Talk to her. Maybe make it as clear as possible that...I care about her. I want her to feel safe with me. And she'll want to go slow if she agrees. Like way beyond a snails pace- kind of slow. Which is fine because..."

"Because she's worth waiting for."

"A hundred years. Five hundred. A _thousand _years- I'd wait forever for her if I had too. If it would help her to see that I care about her."

Chad's lips quirked up into a small smile as he noted the seriousness of Ichigo's tone and knew without a doubt that he would wait for Mizuki for as long as they lived and beyond if that was what it took for her to come around.

"What can I do to help?" Chad asked.

"Well, I've got some stuff figured out more than the rest. One of which is a sort of safety net. I'll need someone willing to royally kick my ass anytime that I make her cry or step out of line in some way. I know that I can count on dad to give me hell, but I may need a few more people."

"I'm in."

"You're only saying that because she feeds you."

Chad grinned at him. "Yup."

"I still love the totally unrepentant way that you say that. There's absolutely no remorse whatsoever, you mercenary." Ichigo chuckled before telling Chad to come and help him fix their breakfast before Mizuki crawled out of bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Kisuke had been in his subterranean training area since his return from Mizuki's earlier, breaking some stuff that had Ichigo-esque rock formations with his bare hands, while imagining that the rocks were in fact the said _pain-in-his-ass_. "Boss?" Tessai called out in concern behind him.

However Kisuke was having fun venting, so he simply ignored his friend until he finished leveling half of the area before finally turning his head and asking, "What do you need Tessai?"

"You've been in a foul mood ever since you're return this morning... Is everything alright?"

"No. Not really." Kisuke finally said after a heartbeat or two.

"What happened? Is Mizuki-"

"She's...fine, I guess. It's _Ichigo_ that's the problem." Kisuke muttered in a dark tone.

"Ichigo? What has the boy done this time?" Tessai asked as Kisuke turned to him with a shuttered look on his face, his eyes were like chips of ice. Glittering, grey orbs of _angry_ ice. The blonds expression made Tessai nearly take several steps back in alarm as Kisuke snarled,

_"He touched what is mine!"_

* * *

Mizuki finally made her way downstairs around the time that Ichigo accidentally set her stove on fire and he and Chad were both staring at the fiery mess in wide eyed disbelief. When Mizuki peeked into the kitchen to see what the two were up too and damned near had a heart attack at the sight of flames licking along the surface of her stove, two of her frying pans, and her counter top.

"W-What did you-" She started to demand when Ichigo and Chad both turned to look at her, in horror this time as the flames finally met her kitchen curtains and finally begun to blaze a fiery trail up her kitchen wall. "Oh my _god_ what have you done to my kitchen!"

"Chad, evasive maneuver six!" Ichigo said as he elbowed the taller man in an effort to prompt him into movement.

And merely got a strained sounding, "Can't move. Too scared." from him as he eyed Mizuki as if she were a killer shark scenting blood or something. His mind kept feeding him images of the woman ripping off one of his arms or legs and then beating him to death with it for even _allowing_ Ichigo to cook in her kitchen.

"M-My kitchen-" Mizuki squeaked, her eyes impossibly wide as she pointed behind the two. Both men turned their heads to look and damn near jumped out of their skins when they saw that the wall was now on fire.

"Holy-"

_"Fuck!"_ Ichigo shouted as he ran back over to the flaming area and grabbed a towel and started to try and beat the flames out again while Chad grabbed Mizuki to hold her back when she started to move towards her cousin.

"Ichigo!" Mizuki called out as she smelled something that smelled suspiciously like gas from the wall behind the stove. She quickly shrugged off Chad's hands and ran over to Ichigo and grabbed him by the back of his shirt and before either he or Chad could say or do anything- she flung Ichigo away from the area that he'd just been standing in.

And into Chad who caught him just as the gas ignited and a fireball swallowed part of her kitchen and her along with it.

There was no time to scream. Nor was there any time to really protect herself or throw herself out of the way as the fireball and a loud _**Boom**_ shook her entire home and she vaguely heard Ichigo and Chad both shouting before there was nothing.

* * *

Kisuke froze up in mid sentence, his eyes slightly unfocused, his face paling to a sickly white as he felt something squeeze _viciously_ in the vicinity of his heart and his body started to tremble as a look of utter terror and horror slowly crossed his face.

Tessai remained quiet for several heartbeats, curiosity piqued as he studied the man who had previously been growling and snarling as he paced around like a caged tiger as Kisuke took a staggering step back and then another before his voice finally reached Tessai's ears.

It was barely audible at first, but Tessai could hear it nevertheless.

"No, no, no, no- Not this... _Please god not this_..." There was an edge of hysteria to his voice that the taller man had never heard from the blond before, not even under the most dire of circumstances.

"Kisuke?" Tessai said the blonds name and got a keening sound from him in response before he collapsed to the ground and just sat there shaking and clutching at his chest as tears slipped down his pale face as he started mumbling,

"I can't feel her, Tessai. I can't feel my woman anymore," His voice slowly gaining in strength and hysteria moment by moment. "_I can't feel her!_ She was there a second ago and now I can't feel her!"

"Where was she?" Tessai asked automatically. Kisuke simply wrapped his arms around himself and started rocking in place.

Dear god, he felt as if he were drowning! His lungs felt as if they were slowly, and painfully being deprived of air. And his chest- he could literally feel his heart breaking into pieces in his chest. And it_ hurt_ so, so very much.

"Kisuke!" Tessai barked gaining the man's attention as a whimper escaped his throat. "Where was she?" Tessai asked again.

"I-Ichigo..."

Tessai frowned since that was all the information that Kisuke could seem to give him before he retreated into himself. Sighing Tessai expanded his senses beyond the training ground to the world above them and frowned when he could feel Ichigo and Chad's energy close by. Just down the street really.

Deciding to go and take a look at things and see what had happened, he sent up a small prayer to the heavens that Kisuke's fated one was still alive. Because if she wasn't- then his friend wasn't long for this world.


	11. Chapter 11

Ichigo could literally count on one hand, the number of times he'd ever been so scared before in his life. There were at least three times in total. Four if one counted Orihime's kidnapping several years ago.

And then there was now.

Mizuki had flung him out of harm's way mere moments before she had been swallowed up by the flames. The stove and the refrigerator had both been blown away from the kitchen wall at the same moment of the blast that engulphed the kitchen.

The stove had slammed into the island, several feet from himself and Chad with all the force of a small car. And the fridge had toppled over and hit the floor.

Half of the wall was missing and there were flames _everywhere_. Licking along nearly every surface of the room from floor to ceiling. Bits and pieces of wood and other things rained down on him and Chad as his heart leapt up into his throat in terror.

Mizuki was nowhere to be seen.

And though he couldn't see her- he could sense her. It was slight, and very, very weak. But he could sense her all the same and he knew that she had to be hurt. And quite badly too. Though he wouldn't know the full extent of her injuries until he got loose from Chad and went to see.

His one and only thought at the moment being, _Please don't let her be dead_.

He would never be able to live with the_ shame_ and the _guilt_ if he had accidentally killed her. He really, really wouldn't. Chad stayed put for a moment or so longer before loosening his grip on Ichigo enough to allow him to scramble out of his hands and over the island and freeze up when he found Mizuki.

"Jesus, fuck-" Ichigo muttered as he felt as if he were going to throw up and cry both at once.

Mizuki for the most part looked alright at first glance. She was covered in bloody cuts, nicks and bruises- her hair and the sleeve of the one arm that he could see was badly singed and burned. Her hand and forearm was covered in burns. Her other arm was trapped between the stove and the island at an odd angle, indicating a break in her collarbone.

And her legs were pinned underneath the fridge from the waist down. And considering how the stupid thing had crashed to the floor- it was entirely possible that those were broken as well from the impact of the heavy metal slamming into the limbs.

"Ichigo?"

"Chad! Come here and help me move these! Mizuki is pinned by them." Ichigo said, his tone laced with fear as he scrambled to the other side of the island and dropped down next to Mizuki and reached out with shaky fingers and checked for a pulse.

Once he was assured that she still had a pulse, he began to pull the stove away from her pinned side as Chad quickly moved to get the fridge off of her.

The flames were starting to get higher. The heat from them setting off warning bells in the two men's minds. There was still some traces of gas- and they needed to hurry up and get Mizuki and themselves out of the house before the whole fucking place went up in flames.

Once those were out of the way, Ichigo quickly grabbed Mizuki and slipped her over his shoulder and looked at Chad. His friend had a look of grim determination on his face as the two stood up and darted off for a safer exit.

* * *

After giving Jinta and Ururu instructions on what to do, Tessai left the shop and began to track Ichigo's spirit energy. Noting that it wasn't far from the shop, he made his way quickly to where the young man was, noting absently that Chad's energy could be felt at the same location as well as a very faint third party.

It didn't take him long to reach the two men, nor to figure out what exactly had happened.

The partial house fire sort of told him quite a bit. As did the fact that Ichigo was speaking frantically on his cell phone to...someone? His father or emergency services perhaps? While he and Chad both carefully moved their unconscious companion so that she was laying on the ground and then began to systematically check her over.

The poor woman was in a bad way, even he could see that.

Broken bones, fractures, contusions, at least first and second degree burns were semi visible on her hands, forearms, and there was even one on the side of her neck that looked as if it was already blistered. Some of which had already busted and were bleeding all over the place.

She was bruised up, singed, and the fact that she probably had more injuries than that even he could _see_ was worrisome. And he knew that both of the men had very limited training and knowledge as far as medical procedure's went- so they likely might not know or even think of the possibility of _internal bleeding_.

Finally the man hung up his phone and happened to glance up and see him standing there.

Ichigo looked _terrible_.

His pale face was ash covered and tear stained. His usually warm amber eyes were rimmed red from crying and he looked as if he were on the verge of breaking down sobbing. _Just like Kisuke. _He thought with a frown as the orange haired man tried to talk- or ask for his help, but kept choking because of his irregular breathing.

Dropping down to his knees next to the two younger men, Tessai asked, "Are emergency services on their way?"

Ichigo couldn't seem to find his voice, due to his panicked state, so he merely nodded his head. "Good. I'll help you two stabilize her, but she'll need to go on to the hospital just in case there's something else wrong."

"We understand Tessai. Thank you." Chad said, his tone was slightly shaky and he bowed his head towards the man as he sighed and then asked,

"What is the young lady's name?"

"M-Mi-z-uki." Ichigo managed to wheeze out in a weak, raspy tone. Understanding dawned on Tessai as he glanced back down at the young woman before hesitantly placing his hands over her chest.

It was no wonder Kisuke had been so frightened. Her spirit energy was incredibly weak. Much like her battered body. In all likelihood, he had probably not been able to sense her in such a weakened state due to both Ichigo and Chad's own spirit energy hiding hers.

_No wonder he had thought her dead. _Tessai thought to himself as he used one of his less draining healing techniques to strengthen her body, heal some of the less severe injuries and stabilize her against anything life threatening. It wasn't much, but for the moment- it would buy the woman the much needed time to reach the nearest hospital and get expert medical care.

It would also give him the time needed to slap some sense into Kisuke so that they could plan for when she was to come home. He figured that Kisuke would either offer to help rebuild the one that was already damaged. Or he could offer for the woman to stay with them, safely out of harm's way. And give her the time needed for her body to heal from this ordeal.


End file.
